Absences

Hello, friends and family!

Has everyone enjoyed the holidays? I've spent mine doing all my favorite things - hanging out with friends, reading, watching movies, cooking, journaling, napping, running, spending time with Jillian, prepping for 2012 and being with family.

In the spirit of soaking it all in, I haven't taken too many pictures, but I'd like to share with you some of the things I've been up to over the break...

First.

Okay, where to start? I haven't read the books. I don't plan to. I haven't seen the swedish versions. I don't plan to. And I probably won't see any of the sequels, especially not if they're 3 hours long too.

But good heavens, what an intense movie! There were a handful of scenes that I honestly couldn't handle, but in spite of myself I guess I really liked this movie. The hardest part of this franchise for me is knowing that really gruesome, grotesque stuff actually happens to people in real life. It's hard enough to watch in a fictional setting, but it's even harder knowing that that stuff really goes on. It's a little different watching Mission Impossible 4 or The Descendants (at least for me); I guess sexual crimes are just so appalling and on-another-level that I had a really hard time passively watching this film.

Um, and it was 3 hours.

Also, I really liked Rooney Mara's hair. I think I'm just getting way overly antsy for this Locks of Love do-goodery to come to an end. Chop, chop!

I also finished our book club book:

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

A note about book club: I love it. It's been one of my favorite parts of 2011. But we do not read books I enjoy. If they're not about Nazi's, they're about medical minutia; if they're not about military history, they're about adultery (insert Loving Frank). That being said, I read this book like a champ because Ninja reminded me that book club serves as a horizon-expander, a culture-provider, a...reason for us girls to get together and drink wine. So I read through the adultery, through the abandonment of children, through to the ending of the book which astonishingly blew. my. mind. I hate to recommend a book based on the very, very end alone, but the conclusion of Frank Lloyd Wright's affair with Mamah was unusual to say the least. And the fact that it's historical makes it even more compelling. Good stuff, book club. You pull through again.

I've spent a good deal of time running, at the gym, and with this woman:

I love it when you're angry, Jill! Grrrr!

I spent Christmas eve at the San Marcos outlets in New Braunfels, Christmas day in San Antonio, and then we high-tailed it back to Houston. I'm just soaking up these next five days of freedom. I hope you've enjoyed the holidays as well!